The Other One
by malic124
Summary: After the ending of the movie, a secret comes to light about Bill and Erica's past, where it is revealed they had a third child, older than Rusty and Sam. When their oldest is injured, the secret comes out as well as why the oldest sibling was shot while covering the arrest of a criminal outside a police precinct.
1. Revelation

A knock came from the front door. Bill looked up from the Thanksgiving meal he was enjoying with his family. They were all there for the first time together, including Erica, and Sam's boyfriend, Lou. All of them had just toasted Rusty's first story getting published and were enjoying their meal when the knock came.

"Rusty, can you get that for me?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Rusty said, despite his obvious annoyance at being asked to do so. He stood up and walked out of the kitchen to the living room. When he opened the front door, he saw two uniformed police officers, a man and a woman, standing in the doorway.

"Uh…I didn't do it," Rusty said sheepishly.

The officers did not smile. The one in front spoke in a gruff voice.

"Is Mr. Borgens here?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Rusty. He turned and shouted "Dad, the police are here!" over his shoulder. Bill came barreling out of the dining room and approached the front door. He pushed past Rusty to address the officers.

"Can I help you officers?" he asked as Erica, Sam and Lou appeared behind them.

"You're Bill Borgens?" the officer with the gruff voice asked.

"Yes, I am. Is there a problem, officers?"

The officer exchanged glances before the woman responded in a gentle voice.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, especially on Thanksgiving, but your oldest son was just shot," she said.

"What are you talking about?" interjected Rusty. "I'm the only son he has."

"Rusty…" Bill said, placing a hand on Rusty's shoulder. "Give your mother and me a moment, will you?" Rusty shrugged and stepped back to let Erica come to the front door.

"What happened?" Erica demanded.

"It's Chris," Bill whispered back. "He's been shot."

"What? When? Where?" Erica shrieked to the officers.

"An hour ago. He was flown to the hospital and is in recovery now."

"What the hell happened?"

"Mom, Dad, what's going on?" Rusty asked.

"In a second, Rusty," Bill said distractedly. He turned to the officers. "What happened to him?"

"He was covering the arrest of someone for his news outlet, outside the precinct of the Special Victims Unit. He was about to go live when a shot rang out and he was thrown backward, into his van. Your son was only hit in the shoulder, so it's likely that he will make a full recovery."

"I'm sorry, but I'm the only son here," said Rusty.

"We'll explain it to you in a moment, Rusty!" Erica said. "When can we see him?"

"As soon as possible, if you'd like."

_Chris stood next to the news van. He held his microphone in hand and was reviewing his script in preparation for his live shot. His cameraman was checking everything on his end to make sure Chris's live shot would go over smoothly._

_"Chris, are you ready?" came the voice of his producer._

_"Good to go whenever you're ready," Chris responded into his microphone and flashing a thumbs-up._

_"Your live shot begins in sixty seconds, standby," the producer said._

_"Copy that," Chris said, returning to his script. He continued looking over it and memorizing it before the producer spoke._

_"Thirty seconds, standby."_

_Chris looked up from his script and looked directly into the camera._

_"Are you ready?" he asked his cameraman, who gave a thumbs-up in response._

_"Then let's get this over with."_

_"Ten seconds. Standby."_

_Chris smiled into the camera, double-checking his teeth to make sure there was nothing in them. With five seconds left, he heard the anchor in the studio referring the show to him, and stood straighter._

_Suddenly, a shot rang out of nowhere. All of the press standing outside the precinct with Chris screamed and dropped to the ground. The officers dropped and pulled out their guns. The bullet, meanwhile, had struck Chris. He flew backward into his news van, leaving a large dent in it before he fell over to the ground, blood spurting from his shoulder._

_His cameraman abandoned the camera and dived onto the ground next to Chris, who was whimpering in pain, clutching at his left shoulder as blood came out of it. The cameraman, Kevin, bent low over Chris as officers came running over to him._

_"Chris! Chris!" Kevin yelled, trying in vain to get Chris to respond._

_"Chris!" shrieked one of the officers, Alex, who had worked with Chris numerous times on stories. Alex bent down next to Chris and checked him, his gun at the ready. Alex's partner, Casey, surveyed the area around them, checking for signs of the shooter._

_"What happened?" Alex demanded._

_"I don't know, I think it came from up there," Kevin said, pointing to the roof of a building across the street._

_Alex and Casey looked where Kevin was pointing and saw a perfect vantage point for a sniper. They glanced back down at Chris, who was still whimpering._

_"Go! I'll take care of Chris!" Kevin shouted._

_"Let's go!" Casey hissed to Alex, pulling him up by his jacket and leading him toward the building across the street, their guns held at the ready._

"Thank you, we'll follow you there," Bill said to the officers. He shut the front door and ran into the living room, searching for his keys.

"Dad, what's going on?" Sam asked.

"It's your brother," Bill said absently.

"What about me?" asked Rusty. "I didn't do anything, Dad. And in case you haven't noticed, I haven't been shot."

"It's not that," Bill said.

"Then what is it?"

Bill glanced at Erica, unsure of how to answer the question. Erica nodded at him and turned to her children.

"You guys remember Chris Martin from next door?"

Rusty and Sam nodded; Chris Martin had been a good friend of theirs growing up. Chris and his parents had lived next door to them for many years. He was about a year-and-a-half older than Sam, but had always gotten along well with both of them. He was an anchor and reporter for one of the news outlets in town and had recently published a book.

"What about him?" Sam asked.

"He-," Erica began, hesitating. "Oh all right, you're gonna find out anyway, he's your older brother."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Rusty.

"Your mother's right, guys," Bill said, shooing them toward the door, having found his keys at last. "We had him right before we got married and gave him to the Martins to adopt and raise. They couldn't have children, you see, and we knew we were gonna have at least one more, so we decided to give him to them, as long as they let us be close to them."

They ran to the car and jumped inside. Bill fired up the engine as he spoke.

"You gave up a child?" Sam asked.

"Yes," said Erica quickly. "We wanted them to be happy, and since we were good friends with them, we let them adopt Chris. We made sure he was happy and that you guys would grow up together, even if you didn't know he was your brother."

"And you were planning on telling us this when?" Rusty asked.

"Eventually," Bill said, pulling out of the driveway and putting the pedal to the medal. "We were gonna wait until Rusty was in college, and then tell you guys about him. Chris knows, of course, which is why he took a job to stay close to his family."

"And now he's been shot?" asked Erica.

"Apparently," said Bill, as he continued to follow the patrol car the officers were driving. "We are listed as his next-of-kin, which is why they would have contacted us. We're sorry, guys, we just wanted to wait until the time was right to tell you."

"At least you know now," said Lou, who was seated awkwardly between Rusty and Sam.

"Great," said Rusty sarcastically as they pulled into the parking lot of the hospital.


	2. Coming Clean

The family walked into the hospital room where Chris Martin was in. Inside, Chris lay on the bed, with his left shoulder heavily bandaged. Once they were inside, Chris looked over at them.

"Ah, neighbors," he said. "Or, should I say 'family?' I'm guessing the police called you since I listed you all as next of kin?"

Bill nodded. "How are you feeling, Chris?" he asked gently.

"I'm fine, Bill. I mean, Dad. I just got clipped in the shoulder, but I'll be fine. The doctor said it passed through and through, so it's just a few days of recovery here and then I'm back out in the field doing my job."

"Are you sure you should go back out there, after what happened?" Erica asked.

Chris shrugged. "My job is a risk. Besides, I checked my conscious at the door when I took this job. I'm not in it to be loved."

"Chris, you were shot."

"But I didn't die," Chris replied. "I'll be fine."

"So, what, you were shot just like that?" asked Sam.

Chris nodded. "I was waiting for my live shot to start. I've been covering the police taking down this big-time prostitution ring, you see, and today they had the perp walk, where they let the perps be walked in front of the press. I was literally about five seconds from going on-air when the shot rang out. It clipped me in the shoulder and I stumbled backward into my news car. After that, it's all a blur."

The family merely looked at Chris, unable to come up with the proper thing to say. Noticing this silence, Chris took advantage.

"Listen, Mom, Dad, can you give me a few minutes with Rusty and Sam? Please?"

Bill and Erica glanced at each other before nodding.

"Take as long as you need," said Bill as he and Erica turned and left the hospital room. Once the door was closed behind them, Chris spoke.

"Look, you guys can come closer, it's not like I can anything other than talk to you or anything."

Rusty and Sam hesitated, then moved closer to Chris's bed. Once they were bedside, Chris nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry that we kept this a secret from you two, and that it came out under these circumstances, especially on Thanksgiving. I hope you don't blame our parents for this."

Erica shrugged. "There are weirder family stories, I'm sure." She glanced at Rusty.

"Chris," said Rusty. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How long have you known?"

"That I'm your brother? About three years. On my eighteenth birthday, my adoptive parents told me that I was not their child, and that Bill and Erica were my real parents. I had always suspected, though."

"Why's that?" Sam asked.

"I could see the similarities between our parents and myself. And between you guys and me."

"Like what?"

"The most obvious thing was our obsession with writing. I saw the talent Dad has, and the way you two are passionate about writing. I know Mom isn't too much a fan of it, but she enjoys our writing. When I worked for the high school paper, she always told me that my stories were her favorite. In hindsight, I think she was just praising her son," Chris added, grinning. Rusty and Sam chuckled. "And it wasn't just that — I could see similarities in our personalities. I can especially see those now that we're all grown up. And from what I hear about your love lives, it sounds like we're almost identical."

Rusty and Sam exchanged another glance.

"Mom and Dad keeping you up on all that?" Rusty asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Well, Dad has. Ever since he and Mom split, we've met up for coffee at least once a week to catch up and see how things are going. Are they back together?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "They just got reconciled when the police knocked on the door to tell us what had happened to you."

Chris sighed. "Great. And let me guess, my getting shot interrupted you having your Thanksgiving dinner." Erica glanced at Rusty, trying to decide hurriedly whether or not she should lie, but Chris caught it. "Son of a bitch. I ruined your Thanksgiving."

"No! No!" exclaimed Sam. "You were shot, we had to come right away." She slapped Rusty on the arm.

"Yeah, don't worry," Rusty added, after glaring at Sam for hitting him. "We drop anything and everything if a family member needs us."

Chris looked up at them. "You're already considering me family?"

"Of course," Erica said. "As soon as Mom and Dad told us, we knew why we had to come here. I mean, it's gonna take some getting used to, knowing you are our brother and all, but you're family. This is what families do for each other."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"No, of course not! Why would we be?"

"Because I kept the secret hidden from you about me."

"Chris, don't worry about that," Rusty said. "I'm sure you had your reasons."

"Yeah I did," said Chris offhand.

"If you don't mind my asking," said Rusty. "Why didn't you tell us? Or, why didn't Mom and Dad tell us?"

"We were waiting until you both were in college," explained Chris. "We didn't want you both to deal with all of this family stuff while in high school. Let me tell you, it's bad enough during that time without a lot of family drama on your mind besides everything else. We were going to tell you before Rusty left for college. There was gonna be a little family dinner, and I would come in and explain this all to you with Mom and Dad."

Chris sighed. "I'm sorry you both had to find out this way. Can you forgive me for keeping this secret from you?"

"Of course we can," Erica said. "Like I said, it'll take some getting used to, but you're family."

"Yeah," added Rusty. "It's gonna be weird knowing I have a brother now, but I can get used to the idea."

Chris grinned. "Thank you both," he said, holding out his right hand. Rusty and Sam gently held it in their own. "To family."

"To family," they echoed.


End file.
